Dbarta24 Report — The Bangladesh government has constituted a seven-member inter-agency committee, led by the Attorney General, to establish legal mechanisms and actionable strategies for collecting government revenue and customs duties from illicitly siphoned assets currently frozen or attached abroad.
Key Developments & Committee Structure
The Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance issued an official notification on Sunday establishing the task force. Signed by Deputy Secretary Afroza Akhtar Riba by executive order of the President, the notification directs the committee to formulate comprehensive legal and procedural recommendations to claim state taxes from overseas accounts locked by court orders.
The high-powered panel brings together top officials from key regulatory, intelligence, and enforcement agencies:
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Convener: Attorney General of Bangladesh
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Member Secretary: Director General, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID)
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Members:
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Additional Secretary (Central & Commercial Banking), Financial Institutions Division
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Director General (Money Laundering), Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC)
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Head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU)
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Director General, Central Intelligence Cell (CIC), National Board of Revenue (NBR)
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Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Organized Crime Wing, Criminal Investigation Department (CID)
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The initiative marks a critical shift in Bangladesh’s anti-money laundering framework. While international legal proceedings often take years to fully repatriate frozen illicit wealth, establishing a primary fiscal claim allows the state to levy taxes, penalties, and customs duties directly against locked offshore holdings.
By unifying legal leadership from the Attorney General’s office with intelligence insights from the BFIU, NBR, and ACC, the committee aims to streamline cross-border legal requests and enforce tax recovery measures seamlessly across foreign jurisdictions. The committee will begin its work immediately to submit actionable frameworks to the ministry.